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About Craige Thompson

Craige’s legal experience includes a uniquely balanced mix in all phases of the patent life cycle. Craige has a passion to create high business value for small, medium, and large clients by providing comprehensive patent services. He has substantial experience in patent licensing, prior art searching, due diligence, prosecution, opinion, reexamination, and litigation. Sign up to receive a FREE 10-part series of vital information entitled: "What your Patent Counsel Can Do To Dramatically Boost the Value of Your Company"

LQ Patent: Can Your Patent Survive Two Bites at the Apple? Two Patent Portfolios Fall to the Two-Prong Defense Strategy

February 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
apple-with-bite

Two recent Federal Circuit decisions point to the current score: 0 wins - 2 losses, for two patent owners.  In both cases, a successful reexamination defense successfully supports the defense against patent infringement litigation. Accused infringer Arkema is now feeling pretty good about that big hole that reexamination burned in Honeywell’s 1234YF environmentally-friendly automobile refrigerant portfolio.  Meanwhile, Google blew up Function Media’s (FM’s) patent claims directed to online advertising.  The above graphic tells the story about what a successful reexamination can do to a patent that has as … [Read more...]

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LQ Patent: How Compuserve Saves Newegg From Being Scrambled, The power of Non-Patent Literature (NPL)

January 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
scrambled-eggs

In my experience, successful defenses to patent infringement often leverage a potent yet under-appreciated class of prior art we refer to as NPL (Non-Patent literature).  My sense is that NPL is frequently overlooked and under-utilized because it takes more effort, creativity, and an appreciation of technology history.  However, the benefits of finding the right NPL for your business can greatly outweigh the costs.  The consequences of failure to properly search and consider NPL frequently leads to misleading prior art search results, which translate into inappropriate investment in patent applications, over-paying … [Read more...]

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Autism Awareness: The Big Question

May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
question mark

In our house the day has finally come.  I imagine most if not all parents of children on the autism spectrum dread "The Big Question." "Daddy, do I have autism?" My fear of this question began six years ago, within days of the diagnosis. When is the right time to tell her? What if she finds out from a bully who crushes her spirit on the playground because we chickened out and waited too long? The big question popped while we read aloud a book written by Temple Grandin, a famous autistic professor at the University of Colorado. As we read the words to her (which she could read mostly by herself, by the way) … [Read more...]

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Autism Awareness: Windows of Her Soul

April 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Avoiding Eye Contact

As Shakespeare, Cicero, and Matthew each understood, the eyes are a window to one’s soul. Eye contact, then, can create a powerful experience when one peers into the soul of another. I have a theory that heightened sensory amplification may often make eye contact simply overpowering, uncomfortably so, to the gentle soul of a person living with autism. Like many who are living with autism, my eldest daughter struggles with sustaining eye contact. It often appears as if she is not listening. But make no mistake, she does listen and, in her own quiet way, with a surprising amount of empathic attunement, although … [Read more...]

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To “i.e.” or to “e.g.”? That is the Question!

January 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Craige Thompson

Litigation quality patents can pay off -big time- in more ways than one. Litigating patents has been called the "Sport of Kings." Why? It's because taking a complex patent lawsuit to trial can easily cost 3-10 million dollars. Every issue that is debated costs money - a lot of money - and you could win or lose on each issue. Draining even more money, some issues may be appealed so even if you win (at trial) you can still lose (on appeal), or vice versa. Then there are issues that the appeal court remands back to the trial court, and the process can even repeat. Ouch! What can be done to reduce these … [Read more...]

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Helping a Fireman Protect His Life-Saving Idea and Prepare It for Market

November 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
New Business Minnesota October 2011

Originally published in New Business Minnesota, October 2011 All St. Paul firefighter Jovan Palmieri wanted to do was save lives. He had an invention in mind to do that. After talking to a number of patent attorneys, he was beginning to doubt he would ever reach his goal. Then he met Craige Thompson. Unlike the first attorneys he met with, Craige didn’t start talking about retainers and fees or inquiring about how much money he had, recalled Jovan. “He was interested and excited in what I had. I could see the wheels in his head turning, similar to what I was experiencing. He looked at what I had … [Read more...]

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Do You “Own” Your IP? Understanding the “Work Made for Hire” Doctrine

March 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Craige Thompson

Originally published in PD Clarity, January 2010 How much of the value of your company is in its IP (intellectual property)? Depending on what business you are in, the answer can range from “a little value” to “the most critical asset”, or somewhere in between. If you tend toward the “most critical asset” end of the spectrum, then the first IP protection issue for you to address is: Do you own your IP? To resolve this fundamental question of ownership, many business are unaware that they should pay special attention to the "work made for hire" issue in their dealings with independent contractors. … [Read more...]

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Sun Tzu’s Art of Waging War Against Patent Trolls

March 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Craige Thompson

Originally published in PD Clarity, January 2010 Patent trolls, many believe, lurk around looking for patents so they can sue businesses who actually do their own product development. Patent trolls, or non-manufacturing entities (NMEs), are companies in the business of buying patents to bring lawsuits and participate in YOUR hard-earned revenue. Now, some people find this objectionable- perhaps even enough to wage (legal) war against patent trolls. If this is your persuasion, or you want to learn more about strategies Sun Tzu might have used to beat a patent troll, then check out this article. This article is … [Read more...]

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Protect Your Idea or Inventions with the Power of the Patent

January 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
New Business Minnesota Jan 2011

Originally published in New Business Minnesota, January 2011 Securing Your Patent Rights Keeps Others from Stealing Your Work. Patent protection. Those two words may conjure vague notions of a mysterious document that somehow protects crown jewel innovations in your business. Indeed, patents do give their owners a right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the patented invention within a particular country. You may own a patent that protects your business processes, but remember that your competitors can own such patents also. If your business involves technologies less than 20 years … [Read more...]

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Law and Patents; What Every Business Should Know

January 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Craige Thompson

Originally published in New Business Minnesota, November 2010. When you start your business, you may be entering the patent game whether you intend to or not. If your business involves any products or processes that are less than about 20 years old, there is a chance that some aspect of your business could infringe unexpired patents. If any of those patents belong to you, that is fantastic! Those patents are part of your “offense.” You control how, when and against whom they are used. They are a valuable asset to raise capital from investors or to generate license royalties. If any of those patents belong … [Read more...]

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